Dave Ware, left, and Johnny DuPree prepare for the hearing to start on Monday during a summary judgement hearing. / Bryant Hawkins/Hattiesburg American

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American Staff Writer

At a glance

Jury selection in the Ware vs. DuPree is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. today in the Forrest County Courthouse.

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We’re headed to a trial by jury in Ware vs. DuPree.

Specially Appointed Judge William F. Coleman denied Mayor Johnny DuPree’s motion for summary judgment Monday afternoon, meaning the court will spend this morning picking a 12-person jury. In fact, Coleman sounded a pessimistic note that his court won’t make much headway in selecting jurors from a 400-juror applicant field.

“I don’t think we can get a jury together for a trial tomorrow,” Coleman noted during the motion hearing at the Forrest County Courthouse.

Earlier, DuPree’s attorney Brandon Jones argued against the necessity of a jury trial in the first place for mayoral candidate Dave Ware’s challenge of the June 4 election, in which DuPree defeated Ware by 37 votes, calling it a “ridiculous errand.”

He said the jury was facing an impossible task of striking out around 330 absentee votes, some based on technicalities, without even knowing for whom those votes were cast.

“We think that the Supreme Court has been quite clear on this, the state of Mississippi is not in the habit of throwing out elections due to technical error,” he said at one point.

Ware’s attorney Malcolm Jones countered that the reasons for throwing out the ballots were more than just “technical error,” but violations of laws in place intended to safeguard against election fraud.

“We’re about trying to figure out who won this election based on legal votes,” he said.

But though the DuPree team was unable to get the case dismissed, the mayor’s lawyers won a small battle on the issue of subpoenaing city employees’ phone records.

Last week, Ware lawyers subpoenaed cell phone records of former Assistant to the Mayor John Brown, city Public Relations Coordinator Chinika Hood and Recreation Director Clemon Terrell.

The DuPree legal team questioned the use of a subpoena to obtain these records, with attorney Precious Martin arguing the Ware attorneys did not adequately show their connection with the allegations in Ware’s petition of contest.

Malcolm Jones said the records were hardly intrusive and would lead to more discoverable information regarding whether these city officials had unlawfully campaigned for the mayor’s election during regular business hours.

“It does not state what these conversations were about,” he argued. “It just shows one telephone number calling another telephone number, what is oppressive about that?”

“You sound like the federal government,” quipped Coleman to loud applause throughout the courtroom, before denying the request.